Arms of Love

Arms of Love by Kelly Long is set in the 18th century, as the events of the Revolutionary War are unfolding. The story centers around the relationship between Adam Wyse and Lena Yoder. Adam is torn between his Amish faith and his desire to fight in the war. Lena is a young woman struggling to raise her siblings and keep the family afloat after her mother dies and her father is imprisoned. She desires to marry Adam and start a family of their own, but Adam made a promise to Lena’s mother on her deathbed that causes him to end his relationship with Lena. Like many Amish fiction novels, there is an element of “will they or won’t they get back together” running through the book.

 
I found this book to be very interesting on several levels. First, the time period that it is set in is different than other Amish fiction books I have read. Aside from their faith and aversion to fighting, the Amish didn’t appear to live drastically different lives from their non-Amish neighbors. Back then no one had electricity, everyone got around by horse and farming was a very common occupation.

Second, I found this book to be much darker than most Amish fiction novels I have read. Some of the abuse themes were pretty intense and the author did not romanticize the difficulties of life in 1777. Most other Amish books I have read are pretty ‘G’ rated and this one was definitely a bit different than that. (Not a bad thing; just an observation.)

Overall, I liked the story and also liked that the ending was not obvious from page 2 of the book. I found it to be an engaging plot simply because it was so different than other Amish fiction novels. I couldn’t understand why Adam wouldn’t come clean and tell Lena about the promise he made to her mother and its implications – but I suppose if he had then there’d be no reason for the story.

I received a copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for an honest review.